Friday, April 14, 2006

Look, retards.....

I just wanted to say something real quick before I get back to trying to find the god damn raft in Legend of Zelda (no, I don't want any help). Man, has a cropping of Macha's head onto another picture ever been more appropriate than this one? Still, I'd take either of these two as manager over fuckface right now, if I could.

One common refrain I've seen from the Macha apologists (or "idiots," as I like to call them) is that if Macha is taking out his ineffective starters in the 3rd or 4th inning of every game, by August and September the bullpen will be toast. That's why it's necessary for Macha to cost us games in April, so that when the summer rolls around, he can do something else stupid to cost us games. Two points:

1) Our starting pitching is very good. There are going to be many stretches of games where the pitchers roll of consecutive 7 and 8 inning efforts, and the bullpen is not needed much.

2) When a bullpen guy needs a rest, give it to him.

Look, this isn't the playoffs. We don't need Street or Duchscherer to perform Yeoman's work to win these games in April for us. I don't want to see these guys headed to the hill for 5 or 6 days in a row, even if all those games are close. If Macha is backed into a corner by how much he used these guys in the previous couple of three games, sit them down. There may be a situation where we have to send Jay Witasick out to protect a one run 9th inning lead. And he may lose that game. That's the way the ball bounces. As a former distance runner, I used to slow down to a crawl on hills because I knew that the energy I saved could be better utilized on the straightaways. The season really IS a marathon, so you can't judge a snapshot in time and get an accurate gauge of what's going on. If we find ourselves on a "hill" where the relievers need rest, give it to them. We might get passed by a few runners, but we can make it up. April and May aren't crunchtime. But there's a huge difference between it not being crunchtime and managing like a moron. Marathon runners don't walk the first 10 miles, they just aren't sprinting like they will be for the final 2 or 3. Our main bullpen guys going 3 or 4 innings a week isn't a problem. Our main bullpen guys constantly going 3 or 4 games in a row is. However, this is an easy problem to avoid. And honestly, because of point #1 above, this isn't going to happen very often. We have an excellent staff, and once they find their stride, they are going to dominate a lot of ballgames.

So yes, Macha should have taken Haren and Loazia out a lot earlier than he did. Zito never should have pitched to A-rod. He should have put in Saarloos or Kennedy or Halsey, all of whom may have been similarly shit-whipped the way the starters were. Of course, we'll never know, will we? Macha once again decided that he would try to get lucky and steal an extra out or inning by leaving in tired and ineffective pitchers who had been getting hammered all day. And do you know what Loaiza's lifetime numbers against Torii Hunter are? I won't even say them, there's already enough profanity on this site. Bottom line, Loaiza shouldn't have been on the mound, and we lost that game by one run. So tell me, Macha apologists (or "idiots," as I like to call you), how was that loss not Macha's fault? The same goes for the Haren start.

The season is 10 games old, and Macha has already cost us 20% of it. Math has never been my strongest suit (that would be child pornography), but if Macha costs us 20% of the season, do you know how many losses he would be solely responsible for? That's right, a shitload.

It is absolutely unfathomable to me that there exist people who think Macha is doing a good job. And it is even more unfathomable that one of those people is Billy Beane. Unfuckingbelievable.